


Baby Teeth

by CyanideOreos, Leticheecopae



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fairy Tale Elements, Original Character(s), Original Story - Freeform, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-06 02:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11026797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyanideOreos/pseuds/CyanideOreos, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leticheecopae/pseuds/Leticheecopae
Summary: Humans are strange things. They're a food source, a threat, but never a friend. At least, that's the thing they never should be, but children have a way of flipping things around. All children play with their food, after all, but there is a whole different set of warnings when your food is sentient.Velvitine knew of all these warnings, had heard them every day, but he was also a child. A child who smelled a treat, and we all know what happens when you let a child loose in a candy store.





	1. Sweet Tooth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CyanideOreos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyanideOreos/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had lots of fun writing this story. It was commissioned by CyanideOreos/Somesenseart over on Tumblr! Very glad she shared her characters with me to write them. Such a cool idea behind the two of them, and I loved getting to write their background for Velvitine's point of view.

‘Stay away from the cracks. Don’t be tempted, and stay close.’ That’s what his Mother had said when she had finally allowed him to go out on his own. ‘Always be vigilant, Velvitine. Don’t be seduced by the humans, for they may smell sweet, but they will rot you from the inside if you’re not careful.’ She’s told him that warning since he can remember, the smell of treats coming to him between the worlds whenever he has gone outside. He can’t eat the dreams yet, but when she goes out to feed, she takes him with her to homes where children wait for quarters under their pillows. 

Usually, the teeth were are already gone from their down stuffed prisons and were instead thrown in a trashcan nearby. Velvitine's mother would fish it out, clean it carefully, and then give it to him to eat before feeding off of the dreams of the parents lying nearby. Sometimes the tooth would still be there, though, and Velvitine would watch his mother carefully reach deft fingers beneath and pull it out without waking the child. Then, before he could marvel at their usually smooth, round faces, he would be ushered away to a corner of the house where he could eat his treat while his mother went to have her meal.

Yet he had forgotten those words the second he smelled the tooth. It had wafted into his nose and coiled up like a kitten in his sinuses. He had followed it, forgoing the roads he knew he could travel down without worry, and instead headed towards the scent and into the underbrush. The path had splintered off into the dark; into a gap. 

Velvatine had stepped through without a care, and that is how he found himself here with his mother’s words ringing in his head and his heart thumping. He has never entered a human’s room on his own before, it has always been with his mother, and on rare occasions, his father. Here in the closet, his short horns and the fur of his head, shoulders, and arms are tickled by hanging clothing. It is filled with the sweet smells of a human child, and the sweetest of all is just beyond the door; beneath the dark, curly mop of hair poking out from between the sheets. Other scents try to trickle in as well; sharp smells and more savory ones, those of adults with dreams brimming in the dark, but none of them can compete with the child's scent. 

He stares at the dark curls and shuffles just within the door. It is dark in here, and if he stays, he knows the child won’t be able to see him. He can turn around and head through the crack, back to his world and back to his mother. But the tooth, the tooth smells so sweet. It has all of the memories of a child and, if he’s lucky, a cavity. His mother has told him that ones with cavities aren’t as healthy for him, but they are the sweetest. At least, the small ones are.

His hand clutch at the knob of the door as his brain tries to figure out what to do.

 _”If I’m big enough to go out, I’m big enough to get my own food, right?”_ He keeps staring into the moonlit room. _”Then I can help Mama. She can get all the food she needs, and I can get mine.”_ The idea of being a help instead of a hindrance to his mother, and of course the aroma of the tooth, gives him the courage to take those first few steps into the room. Outside of the closet, he stands beneath the moonlight that comes through the child's window. 

Around him are all sorts of strange toys, some of which are familiar, like the ones his mother has sometimes taken and brought home. Others are different knick-knacks with painted patterns, wheels, and buttons that he doesn’t recognize. He tiptoes around them like he’s seen his mother do, though it is a little harder to do with his hooved feet, but he manages to move around the bed. 

Something invisible in the moonlight crinkles under his foot, and he freezes. He can feel something almost slick and spiderweb sticky on the bottom of his hoof. He lifts it gently, and the crinkly thing comes with it. It takes all his balance to bend and pluck it from his foot. The ripples in the strange thing catch the moonlight. It has the iridescence of a butterfly wing yet none of the softness. He flicks his hand a little to get it off, and after a moment, it flutters down onto the floor in a strange shimmering hump.

 _"Can children make webs?”_ he wonders. _"Is that why Mama always went first?”_ The idea sends his heart pounding, and he turns towards the closet. It’s more than halfway across the room now, but he knows how to get back. There was no web back near the door. 

Then again, the child hasn’t moved, and he’s so close now. Here, at the foot of the bed, the smell of the tooth is stronger than any other scent and oh so tempting. Carefully, Velvitine takes another step and keeps an eye out for more of the transparent paper web.

To his delight he doesn’t find anymore and getting to the bed is quite easy. Already his mouth is filled with saliva as he slowly reaches out for the pillow. His hand stills. _”How does Mama get the tooth?”_ He’s been able to see her dance across a room, put her hand beneath the pillow, be he doesn’t know what happens _under_ the pillow. Is there a special way to get it?

 _”No, she says they just put it underneath,”_ he tells himself. _”The children put it there, and then the parents take it and leave a coin.”_ He’s always thought that odd, but humans themselves are strange. The paper web is a good enough indicator of that.

Taking a deep breath, Velvitine reaches his hand slowly beneath the pillow. The softness of it ruffles against his fur in a pleasing way. His fingers keep going, much shorter than his mother’s until almost his whole hand has disappeared under the pillow. Each ridge he meets beneath the softness makes his heart jump. Still, he has found nothing, and his hand continues under until his arm is in up to his elbow.

His brows knit and he moves the hand around. First up, then down, forward, back, and then he feels something like a snap. He doesn’t feel it inside his body, but more like the tension of a rubber band breaking. It had been there the entire time, but he hadn’t even noticed it until it was gone. Velvitine turns his head towards the closet with his heart in his throat. _”W-what?”_ Velvitine feels a bubble in his chest. _”I can’t smell home.”_

“Woooow, are you the toof-fairy?”

Velvitine feels the bubble in his chest pop as he lets out a startled bleat before stumbling backward. He falls right on his butt. Wide-eyed, he stares up at the child who is sitting up with a startled look on her face. A moment later he hears the sound of running feet outside. Before the door to the hall outside opens, the little child springs from their bed, terror in their eyes as they look between Valintine and the door. 

“Liz, honey?” The voice is high and worried, and when the door flies open Valintine finds himself staring at a full grown human. A woman, if he remembers his mother’s lessons.

 _’Just stay still. Human’s won’t see what they don’t want to see as long as you don’t give them a reason.’_ Valintine quickly holds his breath, afraid to even breathe. The woman glances in his direction for a moment before going to the child. “Is everything okay?” 

The child looks between Velvitine and the woman.

“Liz, did you have a nightmare?”

Liz looks over at Velvitine then her mother. “No,” she says. “Just fell out of bed again.” 

The woman visibly droops. “Oh sweetie, do we need to put the bars back on for you?”

Liz quickly shakes their head, curly hair flying about their face. “No, I’m a big girl, I can do it.” 

_”She’s a little woman.”_ Velvitine realizes. 

“Okay, honey, can I get you anything?”

“Could you hand me my G.I. Joe?” She points towards Velvitine. “I threw him when I fell.”

“Of course.” The woman turns and faces Velvitine before taking a step towards him. He almost runs, his body giving a slight twitch, though she doesn’t seem to notice. As she reaches towards Velvitine, his lungs ache and eyes water. Why had he done this? Why didn’t he listen to his Mama?

Velvitine closes his eyes as the hand gets close, cringes slightly, and then there is nothing.

“Here you go, Lizzy.” 

Velvitine opens his eyes to find that the woman is handing a toy to Liz. Liz gives her a smile though her eyes twitch between the woman and Velvitine.

“Thanks, Mom…night!” She quickly throws herself into the bed.

“Goodnight, sweetie.” The woman turns towards the door before pausing.

“Has the tooth fairy come yet?”

Liz glances at Velvitine then the door. “Nope!” She quickly throws the blankets over her head. “No, go away, so he comes!”

The woman gives a tired, but happy, sigh before closing the door behind her. Velvitine breathes, and as soon as the steps are gone, he gets up. The child is up as well, already climbing out of bed as he darts for the door.

“Wait,” she whispers as he rushes into the closet and heads for the back.

 _’If a human wakes up, then you’re stuck until they go back to sleep,’_ he can hear his mother say. _‘And if you don’t know the way home, if you can’t catch the right scent, then there is no telling where the crack will take you._

 _”It’s there, I know the way home, it’s there. It has to be there. It’s th-”_ His hand lands on the wall. Tears well up in his eyes. The gap he came through is gone. 

“Toof-fairy,” Liz hisses as she enters the closet. “Where are you going? This is where the monsters are supposed to go.”

Velvitine looks back at her wide-eyed and pushes back into her clothes. She pauses. “Toof-fairy, are you okay?”

Tears well up in his eyes and Velvitine starts to sob and shakes his head. He slides down the back of the wall and buries his head in his knees.

”Maaama,” he bleats. “Want Maaama.” 

The little girl quickly runs to the back of the closet. “Shhhhh,” she hisses. “They’ll hear you.” 

Velvitine looks up at her and watches her face swim through his tears. 

Liz sits quietly as Velvitine does his best to muffle his sobs into his hands. She turns her ear to the door and waits, but no one comes. 

“Okay, I think she went back to sleep.” She turns back to him. “Are you a baby toof-fairy?”

Velvitine doesn’t know what a ‘toof-fairy’ is, but he understands baby. 

“No,” he replies. “I’mot baby.” The shaking in his voice doesn’t help his case.

He wipes his nose on the back of his hand as Liz sits down in front of him. “Then you’re like me?”

 _’I’m a big girl,’_ she had said. Not a woman, not a baby, just a big girl. It sounded close enough to Valintine. He nods his head.

Liz’s face lights up. “What’s your name?” she asks as she looks him over. “Are you a boy or girl? I know both boys and girls who wear overalls, but you’re also covered in fur. Are all toof-fairies goats? Do you have hooves?” She looks down at his feet then back up with a grin. “Awesome, and you have cool eyes!” She quickly clamps a hand over her mouth after the exclamation and the wait for any sound. Nothing comes.

“Sorry,” she whispers. “I’m just so excited to meet a fairy.”

“Not fairy.” Velvitine, though still in a ball, sits up a bit as he watches the little girl.

“That what are you? _Who_ are you?”

“I’m Velvitine,” he says. “And I’m an Incubus.” 

“Well, Velvitine the incubus. I’m going to help you find your mama.” She grins at him, a kind one, and it makes his heart slow down a little.

“Really?”

She gives a sharp nod. “Really. But first.” She holds out her hand. “This is what you wanted, right?” Her fingers uncurl to show a white molar in her palm. Valentine picks it up gingerly and looks it over. On the back is the smallest of cavities.

“Thank,” he says before he pops it into his mouth.

Liz looks a bit surprised but then smiles. “Of course,” she tells him. “We’re friends now, and that’s what friends do. They help each other.”

Velvitine feels his smile as he crunches on the sweet tooth. “We’re friends?”

Liz nods. “Yep, and right now, as your friend, I say we go to bed. You look tired, and if we’re going to go looking for your mom tomorrow, you’re going to need to rest.”

She holds out her hand. “Come on; you can sleep in my bed.”

He stares at the hand for a moment. There is no fur, no claws, no nothing. Just smooth, unmarred skin. Gently, he takes it. With surprising strength, Liz helps him up and practically pulls him to the bed. 

“Come on,” she tells him as she climbs in and pulls him in behind her. “You can sleep with Anne,” she tells him as she hands him a soft cloth doll. “I’ll sleep with Joe.” She holds up the doll her mother had given her.

Velvitine nods before she snuggles down into her sheets and then stares up at him. A moment later and he does the same.

“When we wake up, I want to know everything about you,” Liz says. 

Velvitine nods as he feels the last of his adrenaline slipping away, leaving him dull and exhausted. “Okay,” he yawns.

Liz gives a little giggle and scooches in close, so they are almost nose to nose. Her scent is thick and sweet, and Velvitine falls asleep with a smile.

He doesn’t yet know just how right his mother was.


	2. Rotten Tooth

“Who ya talking to, freak?” 

All of the fur on Velvitine’s body fluffs as he and Liz pause and look back to find a boy on a bike.

They’re on their way home from school, hand in hand, and Liz had been telling him all about her day. Not that she needs to, he always sits in the back under the cubbies, though he wouldn’t tell her that. After the show-and-tell fiasco a few years ago she had decided it might be best if he wasn’t there in the room with her during class. Having a room full of rioting children, half who could see him and half who couldn’t, had lead to a not so nice call to Liz’s parents and what Velvitine had decided was an unfair grounding. Still, he does his best to keep out of her way, though he’s not sure what he’ll do next year. Apparently, she’ll be changing rooms all the time and have a locker. No chance of hiding then.

“Ignore him,” Liz mutters. “He’s an idiot.” She keeps walking, though they have stopped holding hands. Anytime there are people paying attention to Liz, Velvitine has to let go. He hates when there are other people around.

“Hey, Lizard brain, I’m talking to you.” Velvitine hates the tall boy with the light hair. He always pics on his Liz, and no matter how much he wants to hurt him, Liz won’t let him. Last time he had done that she had been called a witch for well over a year and almost suspended. Velvitine is happy that Liz is no longer in the classroom with the stained floor tile. It is a ruddy brown and stark on the gray; a reminder to Liz of how much trouble she got into that day. To him, it was a reminder of watching the horror spread over the mean girl’s face as a bright red bite had spread over her arm. She couldn’t see where it was coming from, and when asked, she just pointed at Liz and cried.

“Keep going." Her voice is a his, urging Velvitine on. He moves, but only because she does. The sound of the bike spokes comes up fast behind them, and Velvitine just barely gets out of the way of the bike is it barrels through the space he had previously occupied. The boy, Mathiew as the teacher calls him, just The Ew to Liz and Velvitine, blocks the sidewalk.

“You stupid, Lizard brain? I asked you a question.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize we spoke the same language.” She goes to walk around the bike, heading into the yard to the side. Mathew, straddling his bike, pushes himself forwards so that he runs over the grass and blocks off her path again.

“What did you say, Liza-”

“Can’t you come up with something more original?” She cocks her hip and crosses her arms. Velvitine smiles as a shocked look covers The Ew’s face. “You’ve been using the same name for three years. I would think you could come up with something better than ‘Lizard'. I mean, is that even a real insult? Lizards are super cute and cool.”

“B-but they’re stupid,” The Ew replies. Velvitine can smell his sweat. 

“Says who?”

Ew flaps his jaw for a moment before he glares. “You just want me to stop calling you Lizard.”

“Yes,” Velvitine says with a nod. “Stop.”

Liz glances at him, a small look, but The Ew takes it as an opening.

“What’s your imaginary friend saying?” His face is mean again. “I bet it’s something stupid.”

Liz squares her shoulders. “If anyone is stupid it’s you. You’re just too dumb to realize it.”

“Says the girl who talks to an imaginary sheep.”

“Goat.” Liz’s mouth immediately snaps shut. Velvitine touches her shoulder as they both see The Ew’s face brighten with malice.

“Sheepy sheep. Bet you count him when you sleep. Over and over again because one is as high as your lizard brain can go.” 

Liz glares before quickly walking back to the sidewalk. Ew does the same, his bike rolling backward. The sharp bolt at the center of the spokes drags over Liz’s shin, and she jumps back.

“Aw, did I hurt the lizard? Maybe your sheep can cover it in wool and make it all better.”

Liz stands with her fists curled, an oozing cut on her leg, and a snarl on her face. Velvitine stands next to her, the sharp coppery smell of her blood in his nose. He starts to take a step before Liz beats him to it.

“I said, he’s a GOAT!” Her hand comes up and smacks hard into The Ew’s surprised face. It causes him to stumble, his bike shuffling with him. One pant leg catches on the bike chain while the other loses contact with the earth. The Ew tries to stay upright, but only manages to get himself trapped in his handlebars. They turn hard as he falls, and the tire comes up sharply. Velvitine grins when he hears a harsh crunch as the wheel hits him in the face. Blood spurts from his mouth as he hits the concrete. Both of his hands, one of which is scraped from the palm to his elbow, flies to his lips. 

Velvitine watches blood spill between his fingers before he turns his head and spits. A large something bounces on the concrete and into the grass.

“My toof,” he groans. 

“Serves you right,” Liz replies as she goes and gets the bloody tooth from the grass. She gives The Ew a wide birth before coming back to Velvitine. 

“Give me back my toof!” The Ew wails on the ground.

“No,” she replies as Velvitine stares at the blood covered treat. “You lost the tooth so now it goes to the tooth fairy. Right Velvitine?”

Velvitine gives a small smile before he grabs the tooth. He looks over at The Ew and watches his eyes go wide. At first, they stay on the tooth, which must be seeming to float in mid-air. Then The Ew’s eyes almost bug out of his head.

“Ma..ma-ma-”

“Goat,” Liz says as Velvitine tosses the tooth into his mouth.

“MONTHTER!” Ew screams. As quick as The Ew can, he untangles himself from his bike, stands, and jumps on. 

“He’s not a monster!” Liz screams after him. “He’s a tooth fairy!” She turns to Velvitine with a broad smile, and while he wants to smile back, he can’t. Liz must realize that something is wrong because her smile falls.

“What’s wrong?”

Velvitine spits the slightly broken up tooth into his palm. The fragments are pinkish.

“Is it the blood?”

Velvitine shakes his head. No that’s not it. She's found him teeth that still had scraps of blood, and he hadn't minded before. This tooth though, it just tastes, well, “Tastes white.”

“White?You mean like it has no flavor?”

Velvitine nods. Liz comes closer and looks at the tooth fragments before she gives a little gasp. “That’s a grownup tooth!”

Velvitine cocks his head to the side and looks at her. 

“That means it's his permanent tooth. The one that he should have kept. Do you know what this means?”

He shakes his head.

“This means Ew is going to have a gap!” She’s beaming. “If he tries to say ‘Lizard’ now, he’ll say ‘litherd’. He’ll never say it again!”

That does make Velvitine smile. Liz gives a little jump step and starts heading back down the road, skipping over the bloody spots on the concrete.

“Mathew is toothless, Mathew is toothless,” she sings a little. Velvitine follows. He goes to throw the broken tooth into the grass, but pauses. His belly grumbles gently. He throws the tooth back into his mouth, chews very quickly, and swallows. It quiets the gurgle, but only a little.

“Come on, Velvitine! Mom’s going to wonder where we are.”

Velvitine runs to catch up, takes her opened hand, and runs home with her.

By the time they get in the door, Liz’s mother is waiting.

“Hi, Mo-”

“Did you knock out Mathew Regan’s tooth and eat it?”

Liz stops, and Velvitine drops his ears and shoulders. Liz stands very still by the door as Velvitine slowly moves to stand behind her. He wraps his arms around her waist, and she pushes a hand against the one over her belly.

“He was making fun of me,” she finally says.

“That’s not what I ask.”

Velvitine pushes his forehead into the back of her neck gently. 

“He cut my leg, so I hit him,” Liz tells her as she sticks out her leg which is smeared with blood. “Then he fell off his bike. That’s how he lost the tooth.”

“And what about eating it, Elizabeth? Did you do that?”

Velvitine feels her curls brush the top of his head as she shakes her head. “No, why would I eat his tooth? That's gross.”

“Then why is there blood on your hand?”

Valentine feels her heart jump.

“I threw it,” she says. "Didn't want him to get money from the tooth fairy."

Velvitine watches Mom stare at Liz over Liz’s shoulder. The minutes drag on until Mom slumps.

“Come on,” she says and stretches out a hand. “Let’s get that cut cleaned up. I’ll call Mrs. Regan back later. But don’t think you’re not still in trouble,” Mom adds. “As soon as you’re cleaned up you’re to go to your room and do your homework. No TV tonight.”

“But Mooooom,” she whines.

“No buts,” Mom is stern. “I’m not rewarding you for getting into another fight.”

“But he started it.” 

Mom pulls Liz away from the door, away from Velvitine, and back towards what is called the ‘mud room’. Velvitine stays very still by the door and watches Liz get pulled away.

“That doesn’t mean you end it." Mom's voice is tired. She's said those words a lot.

Liz throws a look that says ‘what else was I supposed to do’ back towards Velvitine before she’s out of site. Velvitine listens to water start before heading upstairs. His stomach is grumbling again, the tooth having done very little to satiate him. Usually, teeth filled him up. He ignores it and heads to the back of Liz’s closet where they keep the bone box.

A skull should make him feel better, or a femur. They found some bare bones a few days ago, bleached white, and while they do taste old, they are at least filling.

He sits in the back of the closet and waits. When Liz comes back, he sits on the floor next to her chair and lays his head in her lap while she does her homework. She pets his head with her left hand until dinner. Velvitine just keeps eating bones.

The gurgling doesn’t go away.


	3. Loose Tooth

When Liz dreams Velvitine finally feels full. The daydreams he snacks on while she’s at school feed his needs somewhat, but they’re barely a mouthful. Without them, though, he finds his stomach burning with hunger, the bones and teeth having become as nourishing as a diet soda. There was flavor, but nothing else. It was around then that he had started to smell something new. It had been hard to figure out what it was at first because it smelled so much like Liz, but when he did, Velvitine had jumped on it. What he had smelled were her dreams. Sweet, good-natured, childish dreams. 

He had told her about it, that he could eat them as she slept, and that it wouldn’t do anything to her. She had been fine with it, relieved they finally had a way to fill his shrinking belly, though he didn’t tell her he could read her dreams while he ate them.

For a long time, he still had to stay at home and eat junk while she was at school, at least, until she had come home one day to find him passed out in the backyard, half eaten bones surrounding him. After that, she had finally lamented and told him to start coming to school with her again. At least that way he could eat hers, and sometimes other, children’s daydreams. 

Now that she is twelve, almost no other kids can see him, almost; now and again he’ll get frightened glances in the hallways. Even those have become few and far between. Still, those who can’t see him give Liz a wide berth, her presence always followed by his own, and while they may no longer be able to see him, people will always be able to feel him; even if they do their best to ignore his presence. A few times he has startled children out of their daydreams when trying to feed on them. When he does manage, though, it’s hard to get started; their dreams are all jumbled together, never easy to separate, and if he does make it into just one their headspace always feels wrong. With Liz, her scent covers them, and he can find and consume them quickly.

When she sits in class, he is always near, sipping at the daydreams that slip from her skull. They are almost as tasteless as water, the ideas half-formed as she struggles to concentrate on school work, but they are better than nothing as he sits against walls or on abandoned desks with his newly forming toes curling around the edges. They have gotten longer and more human the more he feeds on Liz, his fur pulling back in places, and he finds that he likes looking more like his companion. Staying near her all day is also wonderful for him. Whenever they enter a classroom, and there is an empty desk, it always near Liz. That makes it easier for him to snack, but he knows that the desk is always a looming presence to Liz. Why an empty desk near his human is a welcome sight to him, an empty desk is always a reminder to Liz of her isolation. 

In a way, he knows she resents him. He can see it in her dreams.

“Wait for me!” Her voice is vivacious and filled with laughter as she chases shadows of her classmates across a field. Some of them wear half-remembered versions of her classmates faces, the eyes the wrong color, or a nose not quite right, but to her they are whole. They are all laughing, heading out of the field and towards the woods. The trees’ leaves are bright green and shining in the sun; a sea of emeralds held up by swirling bronze trunks.

“Shaena, Kyle, Mira!” She keeps running, trying to catch up as they keep going. One by one they disappear into the trees, melting into the shadows.

Liz stumbles in the tall grass. She’s still so far from the trees, from the children, and their laughter rings out over the field. The sun is setting, and the leaves are turning from green to garnet.

“Where are you?” she calls as she scrambles for the tree edge. Laughter comes ringing between twisted trunks, the bark flaking bronze to show gnarled, rusty splotches.

“Come on, Liz,” comes from one direction.

“You have to catch us.”

“Come on short stuff! Use those stumpy legs!”

“Olly Olly oxen free! Liz, the lizard, can’t catch me!”

Velvitine flinches as the laughter turns ugly.

“I can too!” Liz yells as she steps into the trees. Light blooms in her hand while the world is swallowed up. The sweetness from before starts to taste sour on Velvitine’s tongue as he follows behind, hands itching to pull her away from the dark and lead her somewhere light. That, though, is a problem. If he does that, then she will wake up, or worse, lucid dream. He can’t eat those. 

So she keeps going, her light bouncing from trunk to trunk in a forest that is becoming more cave-like than coniferous. 

“Marco,” she calls into the world. Echoing giggles ring back, surrounding and bouncing about her before slipping away.

“Pooooolooooo,” comes ringing back to her in a few different directions. Liz pauses and turns in a circle. Velvitine can’t tell if the sound above them is that of shifting leaves or skittering things.

“I-I’m going to get you,” she calls as she heads down a path. Velvitine follows behind diligently. A few times her flashlight passes through him, his presence all but invisible here in her dreams. If he wanted he could show himself, maybe even as one of the children, but she is always able to tell it’s him sooner or later, and then she’ll wake up. She always thinks she’s just dreaming him, and he lets her explain them to him, even if he already knows what happened.

“Olly Olly oxen free!” she calls when she comes to a clearing. The ground is stone beneath her feet, the trees pillars, and they reach up into blackness.

No sound bounces back.

Liz clears her throat. “Marco.” Her voice comes out horse. No voices reply. Instead, the skittering sound above them is all that replies.

“H-how many ghosts are left in the graveyard?” It comes out like a whisper.

“One.”

Velvitine sees the twisted, lanky thing before she does. It stands to the side, between the trees, glowing surreally. Liz stays frozen afraid to turn as it keeps gaining shape, her mind creating it from her fears.

“Marco,” it says in a voice that sounds both familiar and wrong. 

The glowing form is growing horns, curly white fur that looks dirty, and feet that are splitting down the center and have too many toes. 

Goat eyes look through him towards Liz.

Liz starts to turn.

_”Can’t let her see that,”_ he thinks. _”She’ll give me the weird looks again. Will smell wrong.”_ He refuses to acknowledge the ‘wrong’ smell is always fear.

Velvitine grabs her by the shoulders and pushes her.

Both of them jerk from the dream, a small cry on Liz’s lips and a hunger pang in Velvitine’s belly. Liz sits up in bed, chest heaving, hair limp and damp. Velvitine looks up at her from his place by her side and tries to ignore his stomach’s protests at losing its meager meal.

“Okay?” he asks gently. 

Liz doesn’t respond to him. She does, however, slip out of bed.

“Liz?” 

She pulls on her robe against the icy winter air and steps out of the room. 

“Where you going?” He quickly untangles his long limbs from the covers and trots after her. Light slashes through the hall, and in a moment, her shadow cuts into it. 

“Liz? You mad?” Velvitine calls softly as he heads for the doorway. He can hear water running. Poking his head in, he finds Liz standing with a washcloth on her face and half a glass of water next to her on the sink. 

“Okay?” 

Liz looks up into the mirror. Velvitine looks at her reflection and relaxes.

“Bad dream. Woke you…” He trails off. Her eyes aren’t on him.

“Liz.” 

She pats at her face, eyes on her reflection.

“My Liz?”

She lifts up the back of her hair and wipes at her neck with the wet cloth. 

“Look at Velvitine,” he pleads as she keeps cleaning herself up.

“Look.”

She pats at her nose; leans in to study a new pimple.

“Lizzy look!”

Liz pokes at the spot, her fingers coming up to press half moons on either side of the swollen pustule.

“I said LOOK!” He smacks the water cup. Its contents spill over the edge of the counter, the plastic clatters to the floor, and Liz lets out a little shout of fear. 

Velvitine steps back, and she whirls around, eyes searching.

“Liz,” he sobs.

Her face turns to him, her eyes blink, and then they go wide.

“Velvitine,” she whispers. “Velvitine, you scared the crap out of me, why would- why are you crying?”

Velvitine feels the tears start to stain the thinning wool around his eyes.

“Liz?” comes from down the hall. 

Liz looks away from Velvitine, and he immediately reaches out and grabs her. She looks back and gives him a startled look.

“Yeah, Dad,” she calls back, eyes on Velvitine.

“Everything okay out there?” His voice is thick with sleep and concern.

“Yeah, just wanted some water. Accidentally knocked over my cup.”

“Well, clean it up and go back to bed.” His annoyance is evident, but Liz doesn’t respond to it. 

“Okay. Night, Dad.”

“G’dnight.” They hear his door close.

“Velvitine, what’s wrong?” she whispers.

He lets out another sob as he buries his head into her shoulder. It settles strangely in her collarbone. They’ll be changing heights again soon. He can’t remember Liz ever being shorter than him, but it looks like it will happen, and the thought of looking down at her instead of up frightens him. He pushes his face in harder, trying to become smaller. He ends up pulling them to the floor of the bathroom, not caring that both of them are getting damp from the spilled water.

“Velvitine,” she murmurs and hugs him tight. “Did you have a nightmare?”

Between his heavy heart and empty belly, he wishes he had let her finish hers.


	4. Lost Tooth

“Liz, what’s wrong?” Her mother is looking at her with an expression that Liz had given Velvitine just a few days ago. It is pinched around the eyes, though they try to be kind.

“I’m not sure.” She holds her backpack by the strap as she stands in the door. “Just, feel like I’m forgetting something.”

“Do you have your homework?”

Liz pats her bag. “Yeah.”

“Lunch?”

“Buying today.”

“Hair tie for P.E?”

Liz snaps her fingers. “That’s it.” She rushes past Velvitine to her room before coming back, a black band around her wrist.

“Thanks, Mom!” 

She brushes by Velvitine, arm skimming against his as she goes. Again she pauses and looks in his direction.

“Liz,” he says as he reaches out. He touches her face, her shoulder, and she waves her hand at the air absently.

“You’re going to be late, honey,” her mother calls. “If you miss the bus you’re walking!”

“Going,” she calls back before rushing out the door. Velvitine doesn’t even get a chance to slip out behind her. He stands at the window, eyes following her as she rushes for the curb. Already the yellow bus is coming along the street.

A bleat escapes him, a small one, mixed with a sob. There had been no recognition this morning when he touched her, not even for a moment.

“Liz, are you-” Her mother pauses in the doorframe, her hands drying on a towel. She glances around the room, over Velvitine, and then at the door.

“I thought…” she lets the sentence trail off before she shrugs. A phone rings, and she glances over her shoulder. 

Velvitine follows her into the kitchen, head low and tears dripping.

“Hello?” A murmur comes from the other end of the phone. “Yes, this is her mother.” More talking. “Really? He’s agreed to treat her!” Her body relaxes with relief. “That’s wonderful. I don’t know how much more bullying she can deal with. We haven’t had to buy her new clothing for almost three years now that’s how little she’s grown. She’s fifteen, she should be shooting up like a weed, and her classmates know it.” More muttering. “From what our doctor here can tell, her inability to age is due to some hormone imbalance. Most of the mental psychosis has disappeared, though, thank God. We haven’t heard about her imaginary friend in over a year, and her psychiatrist has told us she’s made a lot of progress. She’s always tired, though, which might be from the same imbalance. It’s almost like she has narcolepsy.”

Velvitine feels bile rise in his throat. He crosses thin arms over his chest as he lets his eyes and nose leak down the fur of his face. While her being unable to see him has just started, they had gotten better at hiding his presence long ago. Still, hearing her mother say that she doesn't talk about him drives a spike into his chest.

“Yes, yes we understand. We had already started looking in the area to be closer to the clinic. When do we need to move by?” She twirls the phone cord on her thin finger. “Within the next six months? So soon?”

Turning away, Velvitine heads towards Liz’s room. 

“No, no it’s doable. I’ll call the realtor today. Thank you again. We-” her voice becomes a drone as Velvitine gently shuts Liz’s door. He’s glad it is at least open. He’s started to become so weak that even turning a knob is a chore.

Her room is covered in clothing, knick-knacks, and drawings. The pictures of her and Velvitine have disappeared.

On shaking legs, he heads to the bed. The blankets hold no warmth for him, not like the first night he had curled up under them with Liz. He makes himself into a tight ball, nose pressed into Liz’s pillow. He can smell her, all of her, and while she isn’t as sweet as she once was, he can still feel the child in her, but only here in the pillow that has followed her for so long. The scent is there, beneath the savory smell that he has tried to ignore. He can no longer smell this sweetness on her body when she’s around. The savory is all that is left.

The wail he lets out makes his throat feel raw. His nails dig into the bed as he snuffles the pillow. He hugs it to him, breathes in, and sobs. 

“D-don’t leave,” he begs the air. “M-my Liz. Mine.” He lets out another cry of anguish as he holds the pillow tighter. He lays there, listening to Liz’s mother work around the house. After a while he ends up dozing, body weak from hunger. It helps him some.

It is around mid afternoon when somewhere, out far away, he feels something snap.

Pain sinks into his bones and takes his breath away, waking him immediately. An agony as deep as his soul settles into him as he screams. The sound may have been Liz’s name, but it is too pained for him to be sure.

He holds a hand to his heart and the pillow to his face. 

No. No, it’s not true. He can still feel her; he can, he, he can feel…

“Liz,” he sobs. There is nothing.

He curls up on his side and lets the sobs rocks his body back into slumber.

When he wakes up, Liz is back in her room at her desk. Her feet dangle from the adult-sized chair, her drooping hair dragging on the paper in front of her. 

“Liz?” Velvitine hadn’t felt her when she got home.

She doesn’t respond. Instead, she rubs something away with her eraser and then yawns.

“Liz-Liz?” He reaches out to pat her. She feels insubstantial like her mother and father do. She turns her head to look at him, eyes going through his head and into the room. Her hand covers his for a moment, and he thinks her eyes might focus for a moment, but then she’s just rubbing at her shoulder like she has an itch. 

She turns back to her homework.

“N-no,” he whimpers. “Liz.” He grabs at her pencil cup and manages to bump it. It’s hard to do, the insubstantial feeling having spread. It tips some before thumping back into place. She glances at it, squints, and then yawns. Checking the clock, she looks at her homework before dropping her head into her arms. Velvitine can feel sleep start settling into her almost immediately. 

It is too early for her to dream. He knows they will come soon, but what’s the point? They are so thin and gray that they’ve become little more than runny porridge to him. 

The moment she falls asleep he feels a click, the same click that has happened night after night since he first walked into the world. 

Velvitine looks towards the closet.

_’It’s time,’_ something inside him whispers. It sounds a bit like his mother, or at least what her memory sounds like. His response is to shake his head stubbornly. 

“Won’t leave Liz.”

_’But she left you.’_

Velvitine pushes at her again, tries to pull the dream out of her and press inside, but it is too thin to hold him; smoke in a windstorm.

He stands behind her, the savory smell of her body wafting in his nose and making his stomach churn. Tears slide from his eyes, down his nose, and to the floor where they plink silently to the carpet.

“Liz.” He sniffles. Something sweet startles him.

Jerking his head forward, he buries his face into Liz’s shoulder, heart in his throat and full of hope, but she is not the source of the smell. Even as his heart settles in his toes, he can’t keep his belly from growling. Reluctantly, Velvitine steps away and starts to sniff. The heady aroma, while weak, makes him ache. 

His nose leads him to the closet. Inside, a warm wind caresses him, the scent flowing in on it. 

_"I can come back,"_ he tells himself. _"I've done it before."_ That was a long time ago, back when he first arrived and thought he could get back home. He would leave each night before coming back bleary eyed and sniffling. Liz would then snuggle the sadness away. He misses those snuggles.

Velvitine takes a halting step forward. _"I’ll just leave long enough to get something to eat and then-"_ he pauses. Then what? Come back here? To where he is nothing but a dream?

“Won’t leave Liz,” he says out loud again.

_"But I need to eat."_ He looks around the closet, trying to find something to tie him back in case he gets lost. From a box, shoved right up next to the way out, an arm hangs. He grabs it and pulls gently. Red yarn hair appears followed by a blue dress and white smock.

“Anne,” he whispers before hugging her tight. “Did she forget you too?” He can’t admit that he had forgotten her as well for a while.

The doll doesn’t speak back, but the dim scent of younger days still clings to her. Velvitine breathes it in deeply.

“Let’s eat,” he tells her. “Come back after.” 

Anne doesn’t respond, but she is a comforting weight against his chest as he steps through, even if she is smaller than before. 

Familiar and alien smells reach his nose as he walks through the gap. Grass tickles his toes, warm air his fur, and despite his weak legs, he finds himself standing a little taller.

_"Eat and then back to Liz. If I’m stronger, then maybe it’ll be easier for her to see-"_

“Liz! Dinner!” 

Velvitine freezes.

“Liz! Come on down!”

He feels the air around him shudder like a door has slammed. Around him his world sits in dawn break, the tall grasses painted pink, other creatures sliding out to greet the day of this world. 

“Liz?” Velvitine’s voice trembles as he turns around to find that the dark place, the gap, is gone. There is no closet. 

Panic begins to fly around his chest, beating at his ribs as he takes stumbling steps forwards. The world does not grow darker in transition but continues to lighten.

“Anne,” he sobs. “Anne, where Liz?” He shoves his nose into the doll’s hair and breathes in the scent. He can use her to find Liz. The smell, he’ll follow the smell and…

But Liz doesn’t smell sweet anymore.

Lis is all savory, no sweetness, no salt, just savory. Not a child or adult. Either way, she is no longer his Liz. 

The ground rushes up to catch Velvitine, the grass doing it’s best to cushion his fall, and Raggedy Anne, with all her soft might, does her best to cradle his heart as she lays pinned between him and the strange earth of his home.

“Hey,” comes a voice from somewhere in the field. “Hey kid, you okay?”

Velvitine closes his eyes.

“Hey!”

Paws grab him by the shoulder and turn him over. It’s hard to look up through his slitted eyes, but he finds a long snout and spotted visage peering down at him. “Damn, kid. You look like hell. You’re a long way from the forest. Where’s your mom?” The canine head tilts to the side.

Velvitine thinks the word 'hyena' before he feels the shakes in his belly. They rumble and thrash inside him before they even reach his limbs.

“Woah. Kid. Kid!”

Velvitine feels his body shudder as he closes his eyes, tears streaming down his face as his hands and legs tense and slacken. His blood is searching for anything to feed his body with.

“Someone help me here!” 

Velvitine hears the grass around him swishing, feels warm, furry arms lift him, and leans into the body. The Hyena man runs with him, calling for help, and passes gaps as they start to open as humans fall asleep. 

Through one of them, Velvitine smells baby teeth.

The smell makes him sick.


End file.
